[quote author=“vvanicek”]With the current global political climate, I am not sure any athetist in a high government position in any country would feel free to openly expose their so-called “lack of faith”.

In America you are absolutely right! The point of political persuasion is to bring as many ‘believers’ as possible in to your camp. Successful politicians, including GW Bush are pretty vague about their beliefs.

[quote author=“vvanicek”]There has been mention recently of a so-called “God” gene (was it on Newsweek magazine?). Where are the genes for intelligence when we need them!

I haven’t seen the Newsweek piece, but I’ve seen an evolutionary explanation for religion somewhere that went like this:

Humans evolve a brain that enables them to see beyond the current moment.

While this feature is quite useful for survival, it also creates anxiety about the future (e.g., what will happen when I die?).

The solution: a gene that makes humans susceptible to religious beliefs; this ameliorates the future-anxiety and allows humans to get on with the (evolutionarily) important stuff, i.e., reproducing and spreading their genetic material.

[quote author=“Iisbliss”]It was an attempt to understand and deal with natural forces.

Children, when traumatized, have a hard time re-joining society. Why do we think that all the wise men that went before did not understand that the strong benevolent ‘father’ figure (patriarch) was a comfort to the young and to those in need.

Possibly these wise men did not ‘believe’. Would they tell those that were dependent upon them that there was no ‘hope’? Or would they give hope, love and the possibilty of better days to those who might actually have a chance if they had the ‘spirit’ to survive?